Song, by Toad

Back at long last, would you believe. After the abortive attempt at a Christmas podcast and then the IT disaster in Toad Hall – when my retarded computer ground to a halt and had to have its entire operating system reinstalled – I have finally managed to record the 19th Toadcast. Sorting out the IT department was not at all as easy as it should have been, so it’s taken ages to get to the point where I could record one again.

So, excuses over and done with, what am I going to inflict on you this time? The bloody Scots, that’s who. The Scottish music scene is an amazingly fertile one, so I thought I’d review 2007 and have a bit of a look forward to 2008. So I’ve pulled together some of the big guys like Malcolm Middleton, Emma Pollock and King Creosote and interspersed a few of the lesser known acts from around here to give you a nicely rounded look at what’s going on musically in the land of Buckfast and deep-fried Mars bars.

Toadcast #19 – The Scotchcast[audio http://media.libsyn.com/media/songbytoad/ToadcastNo19.mp3]

01. Sons & Daughters – Gilt Complex (1.01)
02. Glasvegas – Daddy’s Gone (5.55)
03. The Low Miffs – Also Sprach Shareholder (13.58)
04. Malcolm Middleton – We’re All Going to Die (17.24)
05. Aidan John Moffat – The Boy That You Love (23.37)
06. Gerry Mitchell & Little Sparta – The Empress (28.00)
07. The Pendulums – Greenhat (34.38)
08. Broken Records – Kathy (40.49)
09. Rob St. John – Wooden Rose (45.44)
10. Found – Some Fracas of a Sissy (53.28)
11. Kid Canaveral – Smash Hits (58.49)
12. Popup – Lucy, What are You Trying to Say? (61.38)
13. Emma Pollock – A Temporary Fix (68.28)
14. King Creosote – Church as Witness (76.04)
15. Mother & the Addicts – Roll Me on Over (79.37)
16. Frightened Rabbit – Be Less Rude (88.09)
17. The Twilight Sad – Walking For Two Hours (94.37)

Erm, prepare yourselves a bit here chaps, because this lot are a little odd.   The Pendulums are a truly mental bunch from the Highlands of Scotland (it appears from their bio – I’m not entirely sure though, I must be honest).

The music that they play takes psych-folk and runs with it all the way off to the lunatic fringe.  They’re early Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci in many ways, although with big splashes of a sort of children’s program version of Fairport Convention as well as a healthy portion of wild circus craziness.  Imagine early Gorky’s but folkier and even more bonkers – yes, more bonkers -  and you may be about there.  And somehow, although this album is wildly inconsistent, there are some moments of pure inspiration on it that mean I feel somehow compelled to write about it.

You’ve heard Brand New Song before, it’s one that captured my imagination months ago.  I say captured, but perhaps drugged, abducted and chained up in the basement would be more accurate.  Following that, Mercat is peculiar, and Greenhat is an ultra-high pitched cod-operatic performance sung over a peculiarly sombre circus boom-boom beat.  It gets a little more sensible at this point, although no less odd, somehow.  Gie’s a Shot is a pretty straightforwarly traditional reel.  Village o’ Kirkmichael is also traditional folk, but somehow much more than that.  Wicked Witch is dark, but inspired.  And so it goes, from one crazy song to the next.

Basically, this album is so playful and veers so freely in and out of sheer lunacy that it is impossible to tell when, if ever, they’re being serious.  There are some inspired musical moments here and some brilliant tunes, and whether they’re being entirely straight-faced or completely taking the piss just doesn’t seem to matter.  Embrace the madness!

The Pendulums – Brand New Song
The Pendulums – Greenhat
The Pendulums – Wicked Witch

website | hype | buy the album

Nuts, really quite genuinely nuts, but it’s completely insipired. You already know of my penchant for slightly mental circus/cabaret style music so this will not surprise you at all.

They’re from the Highlands of Scotland which is an odd environment in many ways – quite isolated and virtually Scandinavian in terms of having extreme swings of light and darkness. Apparently there is something of a drug problem up there too, probably related vaguely to its being a rather far away, strange place – not that I have any facts to back this up or anything.

Erm, whatever, anyhow, I am completely digressing. This does not have anything to do with The Pendulums, as their music is pretty much unprecedented in Scotland as far as I am personally aware. Who do these dubious characters remind me of then? Well, to an extent they are quite similar to early Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci stuff. They carry a melody really well, but it sort of dips in and out of the song – sticking around just long enough to make it cohesive, and staying away just long enough to make you think they’ve gone completely batty.

They have a new EP out called New World Nova, which contains five songs of mental brilliance and can be purchased here. I can’t tell you much about their earlier stuff, but I will definitely be keeping an eye on this lot.

The Pendulums – Ted the Candlestick Maker
The Pendulums – Brand New Song From their first album.

website | myspace | web shop

More errant podcastery from your favourite slippery green amphibian. This week I find myself yelling abuse at JC who writes a terrible blog called The Vinyl Villain and is currently stranded in Toronto for a few months, far away from his Glasgow home. JC was pretty much the first blogger to take any interest in Song, by Toad in its formative days and I have always been rather grateful for the encouragement Jim showed me back when I was starting out.

As such I thought I’d play a few songs from his favourite groups, a couple of things he’s brought us in the last few months and some songs about missing folk, seeing as he’ll presumably be pining like a teenager for the lovely Mrs. Villain. Well, that or masturbating himself into a zinc-deficient coma, of course.

Either way, hope you’re enjoying yourself JC. Here’s some bloody songs for ya!

Toadcast #5 – Distant Villainy

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

1. Belly – Trust In Me (01.54)
2. Maximo Park – Girls Who Play Guitars (08.30)
3. The Doledrums – Midweek Dreamer (12.50)
4. Waylon Jennings – Dukes of Hazzard Theme (15.20)
5. Billy Bragg – Wishing the Days Away (Ballad Version) (18.33)
6. Alex Cornish – This One’s For You (24.28)
7. Adam Balbo – Rock Ballad (31.02)
8. Elbow – Fugitive Motel (36.24)
9. R.E.M. – Half a World Away (41.21)
10. The Doledrums – He Said (47.14)
11. The Meteors – Out of Time (51.21)
12. James – Say Something (55.33)
13. Thunderegg – Long Way From Home (59.50)
14. The Pendulums – Brand New Song (66.52)